Reason
by firerwolf
Summary: In the wake of the events of Forsaken the hero of the Red War considers what really matters.


The constant sound of gunfire echoed against the rock walls as the Scorn fought to keep the Fallen forces from taking their treasure chest. Anastasia watched the two sides from her perch atop a fairly tall stack of the gray-blue rocks that made up the tangled shore. She could see Dreg, a few Vandals, and a Captain on the Fallen side and just a few Stalkers surrounding a Chieftain making up the Scorned's numbers. She could take them all with ease. A single wave of burning daggers and they'd be nothing but ash and their treasure free for the taking.

"Not like you to pass on some easy loot," her Ghost, Danny, pointed out from his safe space in her suit. The tangled shore was a dangerous place and unless she was dead there was no reason for him to risk being anything's target. Particularly after recent events. "Care to share what has you all pensive?"

Anastasia's gaze shifted down to the hand cannon in her hand, the single white spade standing out against the worn black. "Recent events," she answered.

"Regretting what happened with Uldren?" Danny guessed.

"No," Anastasia asserted quickly. "Uldren got what he deserved. Riven didn't make him kill Cayde so it was his crime he paid for."

"Then what's bothering you?" Danny asked.

"Does intent really matter?" Anastasia paused, giving her Ghost a moment to respond but he remained silent. "Before we went after Uldren at the Dream City you said that the _why_ was as important as the _what_ but I don't know if it is. I didn't kill those barons because they were a danger to the city or Uldren because he was a threat to the tower. But the fact of the matter is that I did kill them and I stopped the creature Uldren released. But on the same hand Zavala's answer was do to nothing about Uldren or the Scorned. His reasoning wasn't impossible to understand. I didn't agree but I understood. But if I'd done his _what_ for his _why_ then the awoken could have been wiped out by whatever Riven is. So then because in the end I was able to stop it all because of what I did, no matter what the reason. So does intent matter or is the only thing that matters the result?"

"Do you think what you did wasn't for the right reason?" Danny asked.

Anastasia paused for a moment as she considered the question. "No, I don't think revenge is necessarily bad. It's not like they were other Guardians or they were Mara or Petra. They were Fallen, at one point, and Uldren was never a friend of the Guardians, humanity, or of me. There is nothing about his death to regret. I just think that the reason for something doesn't matter, but instead only that the outcome."

"Maybe the definition of good is just broad," Danny suggested. "I wouldn't say anything you've done is for to cause bad, just not noble."

"What is nobility?" Anastasia asked, now spinning the pistol in hand as she thought. "We aren't lords, no matter what Saladin calls me, but servants. But are we even that? Nothing forces us to protect humanity."

"But you do," Danny asserted, a bit distraught. "Maybe that's what makes even the least good of reasons still good. That very base reasoning is noble so no matter what the lighter intention is the deep down reasoning for anything is noble."

"But I cant say that's true." Anastasia stopped spinning the gun it red her gaze away from the Scorn and Fallen who were now retreating from their conflict. "I didn't seek the Vault of Glass for humanity, I wanted the challenge. I didn't chase Oryx to his thrown room and kill him for good because he was an evil hive king but because he dared survive me killing him. Aksis was just a challenge, not some deep threat I felt compelled to kill for humanity."

Danny was silent for nearly a minute before responded. "But none of those monsters were innocent. They had all killed and helped the enemies of humanity to kill."

"But I kill as well," Anastasia countered. "So did Cayde so then by that logic was his death deserved? I can't believe that he deserved what happened to him."

"I think that that's the nature of the job." Danny's voice was low, cautious of what words he chose. "Survival is a fight of life and death. Some times that death catches up to you."

"I think I finally understand why they force one hunter to be miserable and be a part of the vanguard." Anastasia pointed the Ace of Spades toward the sky and let her elbow rest on her knee as she gazed at the weapon. "Zavala is obsessed with the light, focusing only on the city and nothing else as though there is nothing else. Ikora is always focusing on the abstract, the enemy and the powers they use. Hunters are the balance, focused on themselves and other guardians but also out there in the wilds. They live in the spaces between humanity and its enemies. They live on the edge of the shadows between what the Vanguard orders and what must be done."

"That could be a good description of the half approved things we've done," Danny commented. "Either way there's one thing we know for sure."

"What's that?" Anastasia asked.

"No matter what reason you have for what you do the Traveler believes in you. It could have given anyone back their light. Any member of your fireteam could have done beaten Ghaul but the Traveler guided you." Danny's voice was light and upbeat. "I think the Traveler is an authority that even Zavala has to bow to."

Anastasia stood from her perch and jumped down to the path below. "Maybe you're right," she conceded.

"Where are we off to?" Danny asked.

"The Dream city," Anastasia answered. "Cayde's story is at an end, but Riven's still out there and I think I'm ready for my end to this story."


End file.
